Kitchen Hazards
by ohmytheon
Summary: It's always "safety first" when it comes to knives in the kitchen, as Bakugou teaches Uraraka.


**Notes:** Thanks to Ke_la on the Kacchako Discord for indulging me with a prompt: "Sharp". Definitely inspired by that scene where Bakugou turns into Gordon Ramsay and Uraraka is floored by his skills. I just wanted to write some fluff.

 **Disclaimer:** I own nothing.

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Uraraka didn't deal with knives very often. The only time she handled them was when she was trying to cook and even then it proved disastrous. When she had been younger and less in control of her quirk, she'd had a bad habit of floating things whenever she touched them with all five pads on her fingertips. She had learned the hard way that she used all of her fingers for knives and floating knives was never a good thing.

It had been many years since she'd accidentally floated knives. She had learned to master control over her quirk so that she didn't float things without meaning to most of the time. Like 95% of the time. Every now and then her emotions got the best of her or she wasn't paying attention well enough. She had to get over that though, as Aizawa was pointing out every time she made a mistake like that.

No one else used their quirk on accident. Why did she?

In one of her recent attempts to get crazy into shape (a mindset that couldn't be stopped when in the hero course at U.A. no matter what), Uraraka had decided to try meal prepping. It took a little more effort upfront, but then she wouldn't have to worry about meals later. It seemed reasonable enough. Besides, it was one of the things that many of the more intense students were really into doing. Deku had apparently been meal prepping since before being accepted into U.A. and Iida had told her that it was a good idea anyways.

Truth be told though, it was Bakugou that had given her the idea. For one reason or another, Wednesday was his meal prep day, which meant that he was in the kitchen for the better part of the night. By now, everyone knew not to disturb him and that if you wanted something from the kitchen it better be quick and out of his way. She'd learned that lesson the hard way. He had been none too pleased that she was trying to make something healthy to eat while he was doing his work.

He had literally exploded her out of the kitchen. So rude. But it had given her the idea.

The only issue was that, well, Uraraka wasn't that great at cooking. She knew the basics well enough, but she didn't know a lot. Her parents had worked all the time while she was growing up, which meant that she hadn't eaten a lot of home-cooked meals. After some proper research online, she found simple enough recipes that she could copy, but then she had to account for multiple breakfasts and dinners and she didn't want to eat the same thing. At least she could count on Lunch Rush for one meal a day.

Besides, she also had to account for the amount of times she puked while pushing her quirk passed the limit. That was a super gross thing to consider, but she'd had to puke a lot more since coming to U.A. It was like her teachers were determined to wring every last drop out of her, which meant that she had to make extra meals and snacks to make up for the ones that she threw up.

It was a lot of work for a girl that was learning her way around a kitchen. Maybe she should've asked Lunch Rush for help. Deku would've been helpful too. He was always eager to lend a hand.

Instead, out of everyone to walk into the kitchen while she was determined to do her best, it was Bakugou.

"Oy, Round Face, watch what you're doing with that knife!" he shouted as soon as he entered the area.

Uraraka startled, the last thing she should do while holding an extremely sharp object, and dropped the knife on the cutting board. Or it would've fallen on the cutting board, except she'd activated her quirk unintentionally and both students watched as it floated to the ceiling. Neither one of them said anything at first, staring up at the knife, until finally their gazes dropped at the same time to land on each other.

"That's the most hazardous thing I've ever seen done in this kitchen," Bakugou accused, "and I've seen Ashido and Kaminari cook."

She'd seen them cook as well - or at least attempt to - and it hadn't been pretty. Their attempt at baking a cake had ended in no one being able to use the kitchen for two days. She still wasn't sure what happened and she didn't think they were aware either. Even she could make a cake - at least she thought she could.

"Oh! I wasn't-" Uraraka didn't know what she could say. There was a knife floating to the ceiling. Out of habit, she pressed her fingers together to release her quirk, but then Bakugou was on her in an instant, wrapping his hands around hers and effectively short-circuiting her brain, so she couldn't do anything but gawk at him.

"Are you stupid?" Bakugou exclaimed, forming a fist over her hands.

Uraraka's heart was racing so wildly that she thought it might gallop right out of her chest. "Er…"

Bakugou was basically holding her hands tightly in his, glaring into her eyes, and his body was squished up against hers like he'd forgotten what personal space was. His hands were warm and sticky, probably from his explosive sweat. They were rough too, reminding her of her pads on her fingers, but clearly more calloused and scarred. They were the kind of hands you wanted to hold up and explore every crack and scar.

Blush rushed to Uraraka's face. Where had _that_ thought come from?

The next thought to pop into her head though was the fact that there was a very sharp knife floating above their heads at this very moment and she realized what Bakugou had meant.

"Well, that would've been terrible!" Uraraka laughed awkwardly.

Sensing that she realized her mistake, Bakugou narrowed his eyes at her, but then let go of her hands. He took a step back, as if completely unaffected by their semi-handholding. He probably hadn't even thought about the implications of him grabbing her hands like that. It would've looked strange to anyone had they walked in, but he didn't think of things like that. He just did what he felt like doing. That kind of attitude was really inspiring to Uraraka, so she did the same.

Without missing a beat, Uraraka pulled her hands away from each other and tapped her side, activating her quirk on herself. Two years ago, she could barely manage doing such a thing without getting overwhelmingly nauseous, but she'd really been pushing herself and her quirk over the past year. If she couldn't use her quirk on herself, then how could she think to control it? Her feet lifted from the ground and she pushed a hand off the counter to float to the ceiling so she could grab the knife and smiled down at Bakugou.

Uraraka raised a hand to push against the ceiling so she could get closer to the ground before releasing her quirk, but like it was second nature, Bakugou grabbed her by the ankle and pulled her back down. It was a gentle tug, but one that still had her stomach doing backflips that had nothing to do with her quirk when he clutched the bottom of her shirt to help her downward floating. By the time she was an inch away from the floor and released her quirk, she was almost pressed up against him and staring up at him again.

"Do you know anything about cooking?" Bakugou demanded.

"I know how to follow a recipe," Uraraka countered.

Bakugou scoffed. "Hopeless."

After setting the knife down carefully on the counter, Uraraka turned back to face him and put her hands on her hips. "If you're so good, then why don't you show me?"

She wasn't sure why those words had come out of her mouth except that they had. She knew that Bakugou was good in the kitchen. All of them had seen his knife skills at some point and had even tasted his food, which was good even if he did make it spicier than the fires of hell sometimes. But he wasn't the type to give out lessons or advice for free.

Finally, Bakugou snorted, but he reached around her to pick up the knife, his chest brushing against hers hard enough to brush her aside. "Only so you don't kill someone in here. I don't want to kitchen contaminated."

"Okay."

" _Okay_."

A small smile found its way onto Uraraka's face. She saw him notice it, but he ignored it very well. The only thing he did was tell her to pay attention and she went back to watching what he was doing. It turned out that he was a lot better at teaching her how to do this than any website or online recipes she found. And if they stood a little closer in the kitchen than was necessary, it was so she could see. He also had to make sure that she didn't float anything else to the ceiling. It never hurt to be careful, especially in the kitchen.


End file.
